1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a optical submarine cable system which is constructed by laying optical cables on a sea bottom.
Two systems are now available for constructing a long-distance communication system. One of the two systems is a satellite system which enables communication via a satellite. The other system is a optical submarine cable system which enables communication via the optical cables laid on a sea bottom. Among the two systems, the present invention relates to the latter optical submarine cable system. The optical submarine cable system provides a merit that high quality communication can be stably maintained.
2. Description of the Related Art
As will be explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying figures, the prior art optical submarine cable system entails the following problems.
First, if it is required to expand the optical submarine cable system, there is a problem that a very high construction cost and also a very long construction period are needed for the system expansion.
Second, once a fault occurs in the optical submarine cable system, a large amount of work and a long period of time are needed from preparation for the repair work for the fault to a restart of usual operations.